Ore reducing machine



Oct. 5, 1937. A. D. HADSEL ORE REDUCING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l A TTORNEYS.

.Mifer //77e Oct. 5, 1937. A. D. HADSEL 2,094,842

ORE REDUCING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 19:53 2 Sheets -Sheet 2 14 9 mini 7 1 i i 1 I 4 its 555 6 =1:

v V )NVENTOR. 1 ALVMB [7205a A TTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 5, 1937 UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in ore reducing machines, and its principal object is to provide a machine of the character described that will be particularly efficient and economical 5.1-1 in the reduction of ore, and will be particularly adapted for reducing low grade ore that otherwise could not be economically manipulated. More particularly the present invention refers to a modification of the ore reducing machines delit: scribed in my co-pending applications, SerialNo. 534,949 filed May- 4, 1931, Serial No. 643,269, filed November 18, 1932, and Serial No, 655,647 filed February 7, 1933.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to reduce the ore by dropping the same on an impact medium from a great height sufficient toinsure substantial chipping of the ore.

It is a further object of the present invention to arrange the impact mediumin such a man- Zila ner that a small amount of the ore is allowed to remain on the impact medium and to thus take the shock of the dropping ore and cause a longer life of the impact medium itself.

A further object of the invention is to cause the 2.5: ore to drop on the impact medium in a continuous circuit whereby the larger bodies of the ore are broken up in a number of impacts until they are reduced to a size which can be removed from the circuit as fines. j

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved impact medium in the form of a plurality of breaker plates mounted in spaced and staggered relation so as to confront the falling curtain of material to be comminuted with a vir- 353 tually solid front, and being set substantiallyperpendicular to the average path of the said curtain. n i

A further object of the invention is to provide A mounting means for the breaker plates whereby the, latter may be stationarily supported in 'a revolving drunn v V I A further object. of the invention is to provide means for feeding the, material into the revolvt ing drum fromv the, side thereof without interfer- 1 ing with thecontinuousoperation of the drum.

A- further objectof the invention is to arrange the drum and the breaker plates in such a manner that thematerial is free to fall on the breaker 59 plates after 'it.has been raised to a certain elevation by the. rotating drum.

It is further proposed in the present invention toprovideparticular means for elevating the material in. the rotating drum in such a manner that 55? when r the; materialxisvdischarged it is crowdedtoward the center of the drum and all the material is made to strike the breaker plates.

It is further proposed in the present invention to combine a classifying means with the reducing means whereby after each impact the fines are removed from the circuit and only the coarser particles which require further reducing are retained in the circuit whereby great economy in the operation is obtained.

It is further proposed to use in the present invention hydraulic classification by allowing the crushed ore to descend from the breaker plates into a body of water which floats 01f the fines while it returns the coarser material to the elevating means arranged in the periphery of the drum. 1

It is further proposed, as distinguished from the invention described in my first co -pending appli cation, to arrange the body of. water within the drum instead of in a separate receptacle. 20

Further objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the specification proceeds.

The preferred form of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure '1 represents a vertical transverse section through the machine taken along line l-i of Figure 2;

Figure 2 a vertical axial section taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 a detail view illustrating a weir for controlling the speed of the discharge flow and thereby the degree of fineness of the discharged material.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention I wish to have it understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In its preferred form my invention comprises a suitable strong foundation I, including two spaced apart supporting coiumns 2 on the upper ends of which are disposed heavy metal members 3 having inwardly extending journals 4, the inner ends of w ich are spaced from one another as shown in Figure 2, the two journals being axially aligned.

On these two journals is mounted'with freedom of rotary movement a drum 5 including hub portions 6, spokes 'l and a peripheral ring 8 having end flanges 9 projecting inwardly, the inner edges of the end flanges being provided with frustoconical discharge flanges H] by means of which material may be discharged into the launders indicated at H.

The peripheral ring 8 has'provided on the in side thereof a continuous series of buckets I2, each bucket using the ring itself for one of the walls thereof, and comprising in addition a rear wall l3 and side flanges It. The rear wall l3 projects from the ring in the form of a vane disposed at an acute angle to the radius of the drum and occupies only a central portion of the ring, while the sides i l extend at an angle from the edges of the rear Wall for connection with the end flanges or the drum. It will be seen that when the drum is revolved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1, material disposed in a lower bucket will be made to rise with the lower bucket to a considerable distance above the axis of the drum, and while thus rising will be crowded by the slanting sides toward the rear wall it occupying a central portion of the drum until it is finally discharged over the inner edge of the rear wall as the latter assumes a horizontal position, and on further ascent changes to a downwardly inclined position. Due to the shape of the side flanges the material, when the bucket reaches the discharging position, will occupy a central position and will drop through the center of the drum, that is that space between the two journals t as will clearly appear from an inspection of Figure 2 of the drawings.

Rotary motion is imparted to the drum in any suitable manner, as for instance, by the chain l5 engaging with the sprockets on the periphery of the drum, and a pinion 16 mounted in spaced relation to the drum. It should be understood that other conventional means may be substituted for the journals l as a supporting means for the drum, as for instance, the conventional rollers supporting the drum on opposite sides of the vertical center line.

For feeding material into the drum I preferably employ a frusto-conical chute indicated at ll revolving with the drum, upon which material is discharged from the outside of the drum by any suitable means as by the conveyor indicated at l 8.

Supported from the inner ends of the journals 4 are two sector-shaped hangers I9, thereby providing bearings both for the drum .and hangers, between which hangers are supported a plurality of I-bearns 26, the I-beams carrying two spaced bafiie plates 2i having flanges 22 connecting with the hangers 69 so as to cause all the material to drop between the baille plates. The I-beams serve as supporting means for breaker plates 23 arranged between the baffle plates in plural series, horizontally spaced and in staggered relationship to each other, and secured thereto by means of clips 24!. This construction makes the breaker plates easily removable for replacement. It will be noted that the I-beams and the breaker plates are supported crosswise of the plane of revolution of the drum and at an angle, the breaker plates preferably occupying an angle of about fifteen degrees to the horizontal plane, which angle is substantially perpendicular to the average path of the curtain of fall of the material. Since the material dropping from the buckets in a continuous stream or curtain follows an average path at a similar angle to the vertical plane, it strikes the breaker plates in a substantially perpendicular line of impact which is the most effective angle for breaking up the material, and which prevents glancing off of the material. The angle of about fifteen degrees for the breaker plates allows a certain amount of material to remain on the breaker plates, and to; take the immediate impact whereby the life of the breaker plates is extended considerably.

Water is continuously fed into the drum by any suitable means as by the pipe 25 so that there is a continuous overflow of water from the discharge flanges in into the launders H.

The operation of the machine is as follows: Material is fed into the machine through the con veyor l8 and over the frusto-conical chute H. The material drops through the central portion of the drum upon the breaker plates, and after striking the latter drops into the water and through the water into the lower buckets it. As the buckets rise they cause the material to ascend along the periphery of the drum and during the ascending movement the material is crowded center-wise, due to the incline of the sides [4 of the buckets. The rearward wall of each bucket as it rises gradually changes its angularity until it reaches the horizontal position after it is well above the axis of the drum, and later changes to a downwardly inclined position. During this gradual change in position material is discharged from the bucket through the central portion of the drum, and drops upon the breaker plates striking the same substantially perpendicular to the final line of fall.

In this connection it should be observed that the dimensions of the drum are of great importance. It will be noted that as compared with drums used in ordinary cleaning or washing operations, the drums are of comparatively small diameter as compared with the length of the drum. In the present instance it is proposed to produce a distinct chipping action by the dropping of the ore on the breaker plates, and my drum therefore is made of a diameter far in excess of that commonly employectand as a matter of fact I find that a diameter of twenty-four feet is economically best suited for my purposes; If a drum of such diameter were made of the.

length of the drums usually employed in washing operations, it would be entirely unwieldly, and.

this is one of the reasons why I reduce the length of the drum to such an extent that the diameter of the drum is greatly in excess of the length, and the entire drum appears as being comparatively narrow, as compared with its diameter.

This construction is also advantageous in view of the fact that my drum works on principles altogether different from those controlling drums used in washing operations; in the latter the material is slowly advanced from one end to the other so as to be discharged from the end opposite to that which it entered; In my drum there is no such forward travel of the material, and as a matter of fact the material is continuously raised and dropped in the same plane until it is reduced to a size which allows it to be carried off as fines.

After the material has made impact with the breaker plates it drops intothe body of water dis-' posed in the bottom of the drum and the fines produced by the impact separate from the coarser material and are floated off over the edge ofthe drum while the coarser material descends into the buckets for further reducing.

To controlthe rate of flow or the speed of flow, I preferably employ adjustable weirs indicated at 25 and shown in detail in Figure 3, the weirs being in the nature of vertical plates suspended by means of horizontal flanges 2! from the hangers I9 in spaced relation to the end flanges 9. All of the material and water that passes over the end flanges has to pass through the space between the weirs 26 and the end flanges-and the weirs are made adjustable by means of slots 28 whereby the spacing; of, the weirs from the end flanges may be changed, the idea. being that the narrower the space the higher will be the speed of the discharged water and the coarser the fines carried along with the same. I claim:

1. In an ore reducing machine, a pair of journals fixedly supported in axially aligned relation a drum revolvably supported thereon and adapted to receive ore therein, means within the drum for raising the ore and for dropping the same from a height above the axis of the drum, said journals having their confronting ends spaced apart so that the central region of the drum affords a clear and unobstructed passage for the ore, hangers suspended from the confronting ends of the journals within the drum, and breaker plates supported by the hangers below the axis of the drum for receiving the impact of the dropping ore.

2. In an ore reducing machine, a journal structure, a drum revolvably supported on said structure and adapted to receive ore therein, means within the drum for raising the ore and for dropping the same from a height above the axis of the drum, hangers suspended from the journal structure within the drum, beams se cured to and spanning the distance between the hangers, bafiles secured to and between the hangers and spaced in from the ends of the beams, breaker plates supported by the beams for receiving the impact of the dropping ore, and means by which the breaker plates are removably secured to said beams between the bafiles.

3. In an ore reducing machine, a revolvable drum adapted to receive ore therein, means within the drum for raising the ore and for dropping the same from a height above the axis of the drum, a pair of elements extending into the drum from opposite ends thereof, hangers: suspended from the elements in spaced relation to one another and breaker plates supported by the hangers below the axis of the drum for receiving the impact of the dropping ore.

4. In an ore reducing machine, a revolvable drum adapted to receive ore therein, means within the drum for raising the ore and for dropping the same from a height above the axis of the drum, means extending into the drum from opposite ends thereof, hangers suspended from the latter means in spaced relation to one another and breaker plates supported by the hangers below the axis of the drum for receiving the impact of the dropping ore.

5. In an ore reducing machine, a revoluble drum adapted to receive lumps of material to be comminuted, the diametral dimension of said drum far exceeding its axial dimension so that the drum has a great height relatively to its breadth, means around the internal perimeter of the drum for raising said lumps to an altitude from which they will fall as the drum revolves, and a stationary impact medium inside of the drum, consisting of breaker plates: widely spaced from each other and set crosswise of the plane in which the drum revolves and substantially perpendicular to the final line of fall of the lumps to enable a non-glancing impact on said medium by said lumps.

6. In an ore reducing machine, a revoluble drum adapted to receive ore therein, means within said drum for raising the ore to an altitude above the drum axle from which it will fall as the drum revolves, an impact medium set crosswise of the plane in which the drum revolves, hangers by which said impact medium is supported, and a pair of axially alined but spaced and fixed elements serving two purposes, first providing journals on which the drum is revoluble, second providing mounts from which the hangers are suspended below the drum axis.

'7. In an ore reducing machine, a revolub le drum adapted to receive ore therein, means within said drum for raising the ore to an altitude from which it will fall as the drum revolves, an impact medium inside of the drum set crosswise of the plane in which the drum revolves and perpendicularly to the final line of fall of the ore soas to enable a substantially perpendicular impact on said medium by the ore, hangers stationarily supporting the impact medium, and bafiles between the hangers, being restricted in their location to the zone of the impact medium to confine the ore to the central portion of the drum.

8. In an ore reducing machine, a revoluble drum adapted to receive material to be comminuted, means within the drum for raising the material to an altitude from which it will fall in a curtain as the drum revolves, and a stationary impact medium to intercept the material, consisting of at least two series of breaker plates arranged substantially horizontally and in both spaced and staggered relationship to each other,

so as to confront the material with a virtually solid front yet let the fragments pass through said medium, said breaker plates being set crosswise of the plane in which the drum revolves and perpendicularly to the average path of the curtain of fall.

ALVAI-I D. HADSEL. 

